The Magpies haven’t scored since the Frenchman left for Paris Saint-Germain and have only managed one point from three games.

Spurs are much improved under Tim Sherwood and he will be pleased with their ability to bounce back from the 5-1 defeat to Manchester City on Jan. 29, picking up a useful four points from tough matches against Hull and Everton.

Momentum appears to be heading in different directions for Newcastle and Spurs ahead of their upcoming encounter. Here, we breakdown the match that pits eighth against fifth.

When: Wednesday, February 12 at 7:45 p.m. GMT/2:45 p.m. ET

Where: St. James’ Park, Newcastle, England

Watch: USA; NBC Sports Live Extra; Match of the Day (Highlights, U.K.)

As touched upon earlier, this Newcastle team has hastily retracted toward the poor form we saw at the beginning of the campaign.

Alan Pardew’s men turned this around to play confident football throughout November and December, racking up seven wins from nine games before the Dec. 29 defeat to Arsenal, as recorded by WhoScored.

Since then, and including the aforementioned loss, Newcastle have accumulated one victory in eight games. To make matters worse, the recently departed Cabaye scored two vital goals in the 3-1 win over West Ham that last grabbed three points.

Turmoil then hit the club when Joe Kinnear resigned from his director of football position without making any new signings, despite taking on the head of recruitment role.

Julian Finney/Getty Images

“Kinnear has only himself to blame. Having told supporters and his media critics to ‘judge him on his signings’ during a series of confrontational interviews last summer, he has been,” wrote Luke Edwards of The Telegraph.

While Kinnear was never a popular figure at St. James’ Park, his departure highlights uncertainty within the core of the club. Kinnear, Pardew and owner Mike Ashley were unable to replace their star player in January, forcing supporters into questioning how progress is being made.

Newcastle are now four points behind a hapless Manchester United side and look as if they will struggle to finish higher than ninth in a season that promised much toward the end of 2013.

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The opposite can be said for Spurs, who have sorted out their internal issues and are looking strong. Andre Villas-Boas is a distant memory for the side that is playing fast-paced, attack-minded football under Sherwood.

Victory against Everton, in a match Spurs struggled to dominate, was an extremely positive step in a season that could still see the White Hart Lane faithful qualify for next season’s Champions League.

Although Liverpool will be difficult to catch in their current form, it’s the reemergence of players such as Emmanuel Adebayor that has aided Spurs’ improved offerings.

The 29-year-old has scored six goals since returning to the team, but his match-winner at Everton was his first in front of Spurs’ home crowd, per OptaJoe:

1 – Emmanuel Adebayor has scored his first goal at White Hart Lane this season in the Barclays Premier League. Comfort.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 9, 2014

Such prolific away form will have Newcastle worried.

Sherwood favours the use of wing play and continues to deploy Aaron Lennon down the right. The Englishman’s extreme speed is complemented by Christian Eriksen’s passing ability on the other flank, providing Spurs with a well-rounded and penetrative attack.

It’s this purposeful sense of character that Newcastle lack right now. Expect Spurs to arrive confidently and blow the home side away 3-1, despite plenty of effort from those in black and white.

It wasn’t that long ago that Newcastle United looked like Champions League contenders. However, the sale of Yohan Cabaye and a lack of goals amidst a drop in form has seen them fall away.

Tottenham remain at the forefront of the chasing pack for a top four place and will hope goalkeeper Tim Krul isn’t as formidable as he was at White Hart Lane earlier in the season.
LAWRO’S PREDICTION
Image of Mark Lawrenson Mark Lawrenson Football analyst

“The Magpies are not in free-fall, but it does feel like they are in limbo.

“Maybe the only good thing to come out of their last home game, that derby defeat by Sunderland, is that on Wednesday the crowd will be letting them know that they will not stand for that kind of display again.”

Read Lawro’s full prediction and score

Alan Pardew hailed the Dutchman’s heroics in November as he produced an outstanding display with save after save as Newcastle nicked a 1-0 win in North London.

He could be in for a busy night as Spurs carry a real threat away from home and boast the joint best away record in the top flight with neighbours Arsenal.

How Newcastle would welcome another clean sheet, because the last at St James’ Park was eight matches ago in November.

A lack of clean sheets is also a stain on Tottenham’s travels; they have failed to keep one in their last seven on the road but at least they are picking up points. Since they shipped six goals at Manchester City, Spurs have gone undefeated in six away fixtures in the Premier League.

Tottenham’s scouting dossiers will have highlighted a lack of goals from Alan Pardew’s team but also in their archives they will have the lowdown on Luuk de Jong. The Dutch striker, who will lead Newcastle’s attack in the absence of Loic Remy, was heavily linked with a move to White Hart Lane during his time at Twente.

Tim Sherwood predicts his team cannot afford to lose more than four more matches if they are to remain in contention for a Champions League place. Buoyed by Sunday’s fortuitous victory over Everton, Spurs will travel to the north east with encouragement but, despite Newcastle’s poor form, they won’t be lulled into taking anything for granted.
MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

Tottenham have not won a Premier League game at Newcastle in seven attempts since Thimothee Atouba gave them a 1-0 win in August 2004. Spurs were also victorious at St James’ Park in a League Cup third-round tie in 2008.
Newcastle’s 1-0 win at White Hart Lane this season was the first time in nine games that the away side had prevailed in matches between these sides.

Newcastle

Newcastle have lost their last three league matches at St James’ Park. They have not lost four in a row at home since 1987.
They have gone seven league games without a clean sheet at home.
Alan Pardew’s side have only won one of their last seven league matches, failing to score in the other six.
They have had just eight goalscorers in the Premier League this season, fewer than any other side.

Tottenham

Spurs have won six and lost just one of their nine league games under Tim Sherwood, taking 19 points out of 27. Only Chelsea have earned more points in the same period.
Tottenham are two points better off than at the same stage last season, when they went on to record the most points (72) by a team finishing fifth in a 38-game top-flight campaign.
They have lost just two of their 12 Premier League away games this season.
Emmanuel Adebayor has scored six goals in 10 Premier League appearances this season, one goal more than he managed in 25 matches in 2012-13.
Jermain Defoe has scored on his last two league appearances at St James’ Park

Newcastle United host Tottenham Hotspur at St. James’ Park on Wednesday 12th February (KO 19:45) in the 26th Round of matches of the 2013-14 Premier League.

Newcastle come into the match in 8th place in the Table on 37 points with Spurs in 5th place on 47 points. This will be the 152nd time the two clubs have met.

The first meeting came in the old second round (today’s fourth round) of the FA Cup in February 1905 with Newcastle drawing 1-1 at White Hart Lane before winning the replay at St James’ Park 4-0. To date, the clubs have met 9 times in the FA Cup.

The clubs met for the first time in the Football League in November 1909 in the First Division with Newcastle winning 1-0 at St James’ Park and completing the ‘double’ over Spurs with a 4-0 win at White Hart Lane in March 1910.

Tottenham’s first win over Newcastle came in a First Division match at White Hart Lane in November 1912 with Jimmy Cantrell scoring the only goal of the match.

There were further meetings in the First Division up to season 1933-34 with honours generally pretty even.

An FA Cup 4th round match in January 1935 was won 2-0 by Spurs at White Hart Lane with George Hunt (Spurs’ record goalscorer until Bobby Smith) scoring both goals.

The next 12 meetings between the clubs came in the Second Division of the Football League either side of World War Two from 1935-36 to 1947-48. These dozen matches were the only League games contested between Spurs and Newcastle outside the Top Flight of English Football.

The 1950-51 season saw Spurs win their first Football League Championship and in the process they did the ‘double’ over Newcastle winning 7-0 at home and 1-0 away. The 70,336 spectators at White Hart Lane for that emphatic 7-0 win were the largest crowd at any Spurs v Newcastle fixture in history.

Spurs beat Newcastle United in the 1952 Charity Shield 2-1 at White Hart Lane with Les Bennett and Peter ‘Spud’ Murphy scoring the goals which won the silverware.

The first Football League Cup meeting came in the Semi-Finals in January 1976 with John Pratt scoring the winning goal at White Hart Lane in the first leg but Newcastle winning 3-1 at St James’ Park despite a Don McAllister goal to advance to the Wembley Final.

Newcastle United, along with West Ham United, were the first clubs to be promoted to the Premier League for the 1993-94 season and Spurs won the first match against Newcastle in the competition 1-0 away at St James’ Park with a Teddy Sheringham goal. The Magpies had their revenge at White Hart Lane in December with a 2-1 win.

An FA Cup Semi-Final at Old Trafford in April 1999 was won 2-0 by Newcastle after extra time.

Newcastle lost their Premier League status at the end of the 2008-09 season but won promotion at the first attempt managed by former Spurs player and assistant manager Chris Hughton. Hughton was sacked under contraversial circumstances in December 2010 and Alan Pardew was appointed as Newcastle’s new manager.

The fixture at St. James’ Park last in October 2011 resulted in a 2-2 draw. Rafael van der Vaart opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 40 minutes. Demba Ba pulled Newcastle level three minutes into the second half but Jermain Defoe’s 68th minute goal looked like securing all three points. Substitute Shola Ameobi scored a late equaliser for Newcastle. The reverse fixture at White Hart Lane in February 2012 resulted in a comprehensive 5-0 win for Spurs with goals from Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Louis Saha (2), Niko Kranjcar and Emmanuel Adebayor.

The opening match of the 2012-13 season at St James’ Park resulted in a 2-1 win for Newcastle. Demba Ba put United ahead after 54 minutes with Jermain Defoe equalising for Spurs after 76 minutes. Ben Arfa was fouled by Aaron Lennon and he scored from the penalty spot for the winner on 80 minutes.

Spurs won their home League game in February 2013 2-1 with two goals from Gareth Bale, the first coming after 5 minutes from a free-kick and the second after 78 minutes. Yoan Gouffran had levelled things for Newcastle mid-way through the first half.

Newcastle United won the Premier League game in November 2013 at White Hart Lane 1-0 with Loic Remy’s 13th minute goal proving to be the match winner. Tim Krul made a string of outstanding saves to keep Tottenham from scoring.

Tottenham Hotspur have won 63 of the 151 matches played so far with Newcastle United winning 56 and the remaining 32 games drawn

Tim Krul made a string of outstanding stops to deny Tottenham against Newcastle, who took all three points thanks to Loic Remy’s early strike.

The Dutch goalkeeper made 14 saves in total at White Hart Lane – the most by any goalkeeper in the Premier League this season.

Newcastle created few chances, but unlike Spurs they took one when Remy slotted in from Yoan Gouffran’s pass.

Krul ‘over the moon’ with clean sheet

The win moves the Magpies up to ninth while Tottenham are now in seventh.

How Tottenham failed to score at White Hart Lane will be part of Andre Villas-Boas’s port-mortem, although he will no doubt praise Newcastle’s keeper, who produced one of the best performances of this Premier League season.

Krul showed the sort of form that helped Newcastle finish fifth two seasons ago, blocking Spurs’ efforts with almost every part of his body.

The Netherlands international showed great elasticity to tip over Roberto Soldado’s flicked header before pushing over Paulinho’s effort that was bound for the top corner in the first half.
Tottenham woes

Tottenham’s total of 14 shots on target without a goal is the most by any side in a Premier League game since 2006-07

Krul was then twice called into action after the restart, making two saves with an outstretched boot – the first, to block Christian Eriksen’s point-blank shot before repeating the trick to prevent Gylfi Sigurdsson’s free-kick from creeping in. Younes Kaboul followed up, but he was thwarted by a tremendous block on the line by defender Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa.

Tottenham continued to pile on the pressure in the closing stages and when it was not Krul, it was the bar that came to the rescue for Newcastle when Jan Vertonghen’s header crashed off the frame.

Result unfair on Spurs – Villas-Boas

In total, Spurs had 31 shots to Newcastle’s eight – although the Magpies scored with one of their four on target.

That goal came in the 13th minute when Yoan Gouffran and Loic Remy, who both scored in the 2-0 win over Chelsea last week, combined brilliantly.

Gouffran, a £500,000 January signing from Bordeaux, is proving to be a key player in Newcastle’s midfield. He chased down Brazilian Paulinho before threading a pass through for Remy, who took the ball around Friedel and slotted in for his seventh goal in his last seven league appearances.

Remy should have scored moments earlier when fellow France international Yohan Cabaye played him in with a delightful ball with the outside of the boot, but just as the striker was about to shoot, in came Vlad Chiriches with a brilliantly-timed tackle.

That is now two successive victories for Alan Pardew over London sides, while his counterpart Villas-Boas will be rueing having missed a golden chance to close the gap on north London rivals and league leaders Arsenal.

You can check out the best photos from Saturday’s Premier League action on the BBC Sport Facebook page.
Lineup, Bookings (3) & Substitutions (6)
Tottenham Hotspur

Mousa Dembélé (Tottenham Hotspur) wins a free kick on the left wing.
5:00

Foul by Cheick Tioté (Newcastle United).
0:00

First Half begins.
0:00

Lineups are announced and players are warming up

Tottenham Hotspur have managed to hang around in fifth place despite some big losses. They’re still holding onto hope that they can crack the top four and get a Champions League berth.

From ESPN FC:

When asked if nine wins from their remaining 13 games would be enough, Sherwood replied: “It could well be, no one is dropping points are they. Someone could drop a couple but big rivals like Liverpool are flying and we need them to trip up, that is for sure.

“We’re looking upwards rather than behind us but we know it will be tough and there are teams behind us capable of putting a run together and sneaking fourth,” he said.

“It will go to the wire. I don’t think anything will be secured until the last month of the season. I would say Newcastle have to consider themselves in it and possibly Southampton, Manchester United for sure.

“Our target is fourth place and it always has been, if we can get higher than that then great but it is the target we are looking for.”

Standing in their way on Wednesday is Newcastle United, a quality team in ninth place.